How to Prepare Your Home for Baby

How to Prepare Your Home for Baby

Congratulations! You are about to bring a new family member home. You have already planned for the major stuff like car seats, diapers, and strollers. However, there are a whole lot of small things you should consider before bringing your smaller version home.

Cook lots of food

When the little one arrives, you will have a lot in your hands. You have to breastfeed him, change his diapers, and rock him to sleep and many other things. That is why you should have a plan on how you will feed yourself. You can prepare several meals, store them in appropriate containers and keep them in the freezer. If you feel too heavy to cook, you can buy food vouchers or arrange for food delivery services. The crucial aspect is to ensure that you eat healthy meals and those that replenish your energy.

Take time to sterilize

While at this, target the red zones. This refers to the areas that are prone to contamination, such as doorknobs and switches. It is not wise to bring a baby into the house before you sterilize it. Infants are sensitive to germs especially because they don’t have a robust immune system.

Label containers

Considering the amount of work you will have when the baby comes around, it’s easy to get confused. Amidst the confusion, the joy of having the child might turn sour when you feed your child powder detergent instead of baby formula. As surprising as this might seem, it does happen. That is why you ought to label everything in the house. This includes both the potentially harmful substances like cleaning products to safe products like milk. Make sure that your writing is clear. That way, everybody will be safe around the house, including your newest member.

Quiet down

If you have set aside a separate room for your child, you will want to make it as quiet and dark as possible. Consider purchasing liners or blackout curtains for your window treatments. If you reside in a noisy estate, think about getting a white noise device. Placing a stuffed animal on the window can also help to zero out the outside noise.

Get enough sleep

Yes, you must be feeling tired and exhausted. You are probably having a rough time, but worry not, the baby is about to come into the world. When this happens, you are bound to feed the baby in the middle of the night, which means that you’ve got to get up. So, it’s likely that you won’t have much sleep then. That is why you should get as much of it as you can. When your little one arrives home, consider buying a co-sleeper and attach it to your bed. It will help you sleep well since the baby is right by your side. You can get up, feed her and go back to sleep immediately.

Prepare for guests

Once you leave the hospital, the chances are that your family and friends will want to visit your baby. Do not wait for them to arrive so that you can start spreading beds and cleaning towels. Stock up enough toilet paper, toothbrushes, and toothpaste. Make sure that the bedding and rooms are clean. That way, you won’t have to hustle much when guests arrive.

Make room in your fridge

Although you have decided to put your baby on an all-liquid diet, this will not be the case forever. You will have to allocate some breast milk and formula in the fridge. Remember the delicious casseroles that your family will bring when they come to visit your little one? They will need space too. Clean the refrigerator before arranging it. Wipe the shelves using a cloth dipped in warm water. Use vinegar to get rid of the sticky spots on the shelves. You can now go shopping and leave some room when arranging the fridge.

Smooth the edges

If your house is filled with glass and metallic items, you should keep them at bay for a while. Metal and glass are not child-friendly. Anything that has sharp edges should be kept as far away as possible. If you don’t have extra space to keep these items, wrap their sides with plastic guards or bubble wrap. That way, the child will not harm himself.